


Signed Anonymous

by Emkie



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, And So Are Jace and Simon, Background Simon Lewis/Jace Wayland, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Catarina Is A Queen, Clizzy - Freeform, First Kiss, Isabelle and Clary Are Dating, Language of Flowers, M/M, Magnus and Alec Are Both Oblivious, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 17:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11513610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emkie/pseuds/Emkie
Summary: anonymous: adjective— not identified by name, of unknown name.Magnus Bane, having been in many relationships, is unlucky in love.Enter Alexander Lightwood, who likes flowers and Magnus Bane — combine the two and Alec has a challenge on his hands.





	Signed Anonymous

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> For everyone who is possibly thinking that this story sounds painstakingly familiar — the reason for that is probably because it is the same fic, however I chose to delete it as I was really unhappy with the writing and layout. I deleted it in order to revamp(?) it, I guess. 
> 
> Along with that revamp came a new username, which means nothing other than a typo I made while writing my name in here and I decided to keep it because it sounded funky. Therefore no one has stolen this fic, it is just me with a new user and an (hopefully) improved fanfic for your viewing pleasure. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it as I have spent a lot of time trying to make it sound as good as possible. 
> 
> — Emkie

It is no secret to anyone that Magnus Bane, in his first year of college, had managed to gain quite the reputation on the dating scene — people had percepted him in a way that made it seem as though he had multiple lovers, sometimes at the same time as each other, although a few knew that this was not the case. Everyone came to know the truth when Magnus decided he wanted to date Camille Belcourt, and when Magnus wants, Magnus gets. 

It didn’t take a lot of persuasion on Magnus’ behalf to woo Camille, and it didn’t take much time for Magnus to realise the instant mistake he had made.

Camille Belcourt had a way with words, she was seductive and persuasive and when he had met her, Magnus had gone weak in the knees. As the relationship progressed, she became cold and dishonest, secretive and antisocial. 

Maybe it was the fact that she was an older woman that allured Magnus into wanting her, or maybe it was lust — whatever it was, he curses his past self for ever wanting her at all.

Magnus had been the one to call off the relationship in the end, although Camille had been the one to destroy it — with her deceptiveness and countless incidents of emotional abuse, Magnus was at his lowest. 

Then came Alexander Lightwood.

Alexander Lightwood is a light to Magnus’ dark. 

Alexander had only turned up to the frat party that Magnus had been invited to because his siblings, who were as reckless as they came, had practically dragged him away from his studies with the intention to get him very drunk. 

Upon arrival, Jace and Isabelle had quickly left Alec’s side, leaving him confused and lost in a room of strangers. He had been searching for them when he stumbled across Magnus, who was looking very drunk and a little bit lost himself. His makeup had visibly smudged and he guessed that his alcohol intake was higher than most people present in the room.

“You’re pretty,” were the first words Magnus spoke to Alexander, and he had never forgotten them — even when Magnus couldn’t remember the next day, he never told him.

Everyone knows that Magnus Bane, although he’s known for throwing the most eventful, groundbreaking parties, is lonely. Thus explaining why men and women both equally throw themselves at him, yearning for his affections and more often than not, end up making major embarrassments of themselves. Magnus knows that none of them are genuine, though. 

It’s a bleak Thursday morning when he finds the first one. 

He opens his door, ready to step outside to meet Catarina, when he almost steps on a delicate yellow flower. There’s no note explaining why the flower is there or any indication of who might have put it there. 

Magnus looks around before bending down and picking it up, playing with the stem as he watches the flower spin between his ringed fingers, his nails decorated with a dark black polish — a colour he has become used to wearing as a reflection of his mood.

Thankfully for Magnus, there is nobody lingering in his hallway and no-one has seen him, this would be a hard one to explain.

-

“I don’t know where it came from. If I knew I wouldn’t be asking you.” 

He’s speaking in a hushed tone, as one is meant to do when sat in a library, to Catarina Loss. In her hands, she holds the single flower that Magnus had received that morning and she’s examining the flower as if Magnus hasn’t already searched everywhere for some sort of indication as to who it comes from.

“Who have you asked?” Catarina finally asks, placing the flower in between the both of them.

Magnus shrugs in lieu of an answer.

He hasn’t actually asked anyone about the Mystery of the Yellow Flower, which he was now calling it, yet. He also hasn’t managed to come up with a conclusion as to why it was there outside his door in the first place.

“So you haven’t spoken to anyone about this?” Catarina questions. 

Magnus shakes his head. “Nope, just you.”

“Strange,” Catarina comments and her eyes drift to the yellow rose once again. “It looks as though you have an admirer, Magnus.” 

“Darling,” Magnus looks at her with a smirk on his face, “I have a lot of admirers. You’re only realising this now?”

Catarina has to restrain herself from picking up her own notebook and throwing it at him. 

Instead, she settles for an over-exaggerated eye roll, although there is nothing unkind about the gesture. 

“Hurry up and finish, you haven’t forgotten we’re meeting Izzy, Alec and Clary for dinner?” she asks, packing away her own belongings, then checking her phone, “In 10 minutes?” 

“I know, I have one more section.” Magnus responds and his hand seems to scribble faster on the page in front of him. 

“Maybe they saw something this morning,”” Catarina says, twirling a strand of blue hair with her fingers. “Maybe they saw someone walking around with a single yellow rose.”

Magnus looks up from his book, almost animatedly, shutting it and scrambling to shove it in his bag. “On second thoughts, essays can wait. This,” he gestures to the flower before picking it up, “cannot. Let’s go, my dear.”

They find Izzy, Alec and Clary outside under one of the trees where they often eat lunch together when they are all on campus, Catarina sits down next to Alec and Magnus takes the other side of him. 

“Alexander,” Magnus offers in greeting, smiling over at the man.

Alec pouts in response, obviously at being called by his full name. It’s nothing new, Magnus is one of the only people to address Alec by his full name — no matter how many times Alec had protested over the course of their friendship. However, Magnus had protested saying that Alexander had a “nice ring to it, especially for a pretty face like yours” to which Alec had just blushed, dumbfounded that someone was actually complimenting him for once.

Isabelle, Alec’s younger sister is sitting with Clary, a fiery redhead who has a burning passion for art. She’s incredible at drawing and her favourite subject is Isabelle. Clary and Isabelle had pined over each other all year throughout their final school years, until one accidental slip-up on Alec’s behalf which resulted in them finally pursuing a relationship. 

As Magnus watches them both, sharing quiet whispers and smiles that were almost as bright as the sun that shone down on them, he silently longs for a relationship like theirs.

Alec watches them inconspicuously too, yearning for the same.

“Who's the flower for, Magnus?” Clary asks, her tone almost knowing. She rests her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder, eyeing the flower still in Magnus’ hand. 

“Me, apparently.” Magnus replies, earning confused looks from the rest of the group encouraging him to elaborate. “It was outside my room this morning, no note. Nothing. A very strange gift, I must say. Usually admirers like to give bouquets of flowers, not a single one.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, I think this means that the flower comes from an unconventional person — someone who stands out,” he says.

Isabelle shrugs, “maybe someone put it there by mistake, you know — thought it was someone else's room.” 

“Wow, thanks Isabelle. You’re doing great things for my ego right now.” He replies sarcastically.

For a second time, she shrugs, “somebody’s got to.”

Magnus laughs at that and brings her into his arms, squeezing her tight. 

“My hair!” she cries in between laughs before pushing upwards and escaping Magnus’ embrace, complaining about the current state of her dishevelled hair.

“You’re very quiet today, everything all right?” Magnus asks, turning to Alec who’s sat silently beside him. 

Alec simply nods, “just have an essay to write. I kind of need this one to go well.”

“Alexander,” Magnus says, scooting closer to him, “you are the brainiest person I know. You’ll do great, like you always do.”

Alec smiles in response and the slight hint of pink that graces his cheeks doesn’t come as a surprise to Magnus, although he doesn’t mention it to the man in question.

“It’s very pretty,” Clary comments, twirling the stem of the flower in her hands. “but what a strange gift. I didn’t think flowers were the go-to gift anymore— or should I say, flower.” 

“I just want to know who put it there,” Magnus says with a sigh. “Maybe it was just a mistake. A one-off thing that was meant to be a joke — maybe I’m just reading too far into it.”

-

As it turns out, the flower isn’t a one off. 

It also turns out that there is no way that Magnus was reading too much into it because another rose appears outside Magnus’ room the next day. He applauds the person doing this, but as he picks up the flower he thinks: At least put it in a vase so it doesn’t get damaged. 

This time, the flower isn’t yellow, it’s peach.

Once again, he meets with Catarina, Isabelle, Clary and Alec at lunchtime to discuss the flower. 

“At least you know this person is dedicated to the craft.” Isabelle offers.

Clary looks at her girlfriend questioningly, “the craft of giving flowers?” 

Isabelle shakes her head to dismiss the comment, “you know what I mean.”

Magnus laughs which seems to pull Clary and Isabelle out of their conversation. “It could still be someone playing a joke or something, though.”

Clary glances at him, “I don’t think anyone would do that to you, Magnus.”

“I guess, what if it’s C—”

“I’m going to have to stop you right there,” Catarina cuts in immediately before he can finish, “if you say this is Camille playing some sick joke to get back at you I’m going to throw something at you.”

“What if she’s got one of her crazy little followers to do this, to see me squirm?” Magnus asks. 

“It can’t be her, Magnus,” Clary says, “but on the off chance, the very off chance that it is her, we’ve all got your back.”

“I appreciate the gesture, biscuit,” Magnus says with a smile, reaching over for Clary’s hand and taking it in his own, “but you are the least intimidating person I know.”

Isabelle, who is listening intently, snorts. “Try getting into an argument with her; been there, done that.”

Clary scowls at her in response.

It isn’t until Magnus has left with Catarina to go to the library to finish his essay that he realises all throughout lunch, Alec had barely said a word.

The pair sit at their regular table in the library, on the second floor and outlooking the athletic fields where there were classes being taken currently. Magnus is thankful that he hasn’t opted to take any physical classes during his college time — exercise was the worst.

“Magnus,” Catarina says, breaking the silence between the pair that has arisen since they began to work on their respective subjects.

He looks up at the call of his name, eyes expectant. 

“Did you ever think to look up the meaning of these flowers?” She asks, the thought has only just occurred to her. “Like, maybe roses symbolise something,”

“Don’t roses symbolise love?” Magnus asks looking rather alarmed, his eyes wide. 

“That’s red roses. What about yellow roses, or peach roses?” Catarina says, in a tone that suggests that Magnus should already know these things.

“Can roses have different meanings?” Magnus asks, brow furrowed.

He quickly reaches for his phone out of his bag. He had deliberately left it there when they had entered the library so that it could not provide further distraction from studying, he and Catarina had both agreed that phones could be used in important matters. Magnus deems this an important matter and if the look that Catarina gives him tells him anything; it is that she agrees wholeheartedly.

He types roses and their meanings into the search bar and within seconds, thousands of results come up. How is he to know which one to believe?

“What does it say?” Catarina asks, leaning over to observe the findings for herself before pulling up a chair to sit next to him.

Magnus clicks on the first search result that appears on the screen.

“A yellow rose represents friendship, care and the promise of a new beginning.” Magnus reads out loud, a frown appearing on his face.

“Oh that’s adorable,” Catarina coos, “someone wants to be friends.”

“I hate you,” Magnus says in response.

Catarina laughs, “We both know that’s the furthest from the truth.”

Magnus hums, “maybe.”

“Enough stalling,” she says finally, “find out what peach means.”

Magnus scrolls down the table of the different flowers and their meanings until he finds what he is looking for.

“A peach rose represents appreciation and gratitude. Do you think that whoever is sending these, is going off these meanings?” Magnus asks, looking up at the blue-haired woman in front of him.

Catarina shrugs in reply. “I don’t want to get your hopes up, Magnus, just in case this is a cruel joke, but I don’t think someone trying to have a laugh would go through this much effort.” 

“Hm.” Magnus sighs, “This is like some cliche movie, isn’t it?”

“The mystery of it all is quite amusing though, don’t you think?”  
Magnus doesn’t respond, instead he decides that the matter could wait, and that his studies could not wait any longer, he deposits his phone back in his bag and continues writing up his essay notes.

-

On the third day, Magnus’ streak of hope has disappeared, just like the roses that had been outside his door the day before. He had gone to check outside the door earlier that morning, earning a few weird glances from passers by and there had been nothing. 

Trying not to be too disheartened at the fact that this was turning out to be a joke, Magnus dresses himself in something comfortable, not feeling in any particular mood to get too dressed up before heading down to the cafeteria where Catarina is already waiting.

He explains the situation to her and by the end of the explanation, she is furious, and decides that she needs some more breakfast. 

Luckily, neither Catarina or Magnus have any early classes this morning, therefore giving them more time to discuss the matter at hand.

Isabelle approaches, her hand firmly clasped in Clary’s — Magnus completely admired their adoration for one another, even though there have been people who do not share his affections for the couple. 

Embarrassingly, it takes Magnus a total of three seconds to realise that Alec is nowhere to be seen. He knows that Alec has a class this morning, not that he’d never let anyone else know that he knows Alec’s schedule probably better than Alec himself.

“Where’s Alec?” he blurts out and the smirk that Catarina throws him doesn’t go unnoticed. He makes note to talk to her about it later on, when they are not in the presence of said man’s sibling.

“He’s sick, we think he’s caught what Jace had last week.” Isabelle replies, emphasising her statement with a shudder, “I left that house quicker than anything. I didn’t even have breakfast.”

Magnus pushes his plate that is still half full towards her, “share, I can’t eat all of this. Maybe I should go see if he’s okay?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, unless you want to get sick too.” Isabelle looks at him gratefully before tucking into the donated food. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Is Jace better now?” Catarina asks with a smile, “Simon been looking after him?” 

Jace and Simon have only become a thing recently, they hadn’t gotten along for a while when they had first met through Clary and Alec. Although, it hadn’t been long until their differences were put aside — the story of how Jace and Simon came to date was one that Alec has never heard, especially since Jace would get all embarrassed at the mention of Simon’s name.

It had been quite the surprise when Maryse and Robert Lightwood found out that none of their kids were heterosexual.

Simon was an easy-going young man who went with the flow and had an open mind about pretty much anything. Falling in love with Jace Lightwood however, something he hadn’t planned on doing. Thus, he became inevitably close with Alec and Isabelle, and had already been extremely close with Clary.

“I think so, he had Simon looking after him all week, even skipped some classes.” Isabelle answers. “Besides, Simon’s cooking is a lot better than mine or Alec’s.”

Magnus laughs but can’t disagree. Simon cooked a mean chicken soup for sick people, he’s had the pleasure of experiencing the meal firsthand. 

Magnus is so deep in thought that he doesn’t notice when Isabelle stands after finishing her food. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she says to no-one in particular. 

“I need to go too,” Catarina replies, making to stand up, “I’ll come with.”

“No,” Isabelle says, a little too quickly for Catarina’s liking, “I mean, I just — really need to go alone right now, for, you know — things.” 

“Okay,” Catarina says, slowly sitting back down, her confused expression doesn’t go unnoticed by Magnus.

“I’ll meet you in the library in ten minutes, okay?” Isabelle says, addressing the question to Clary. 

Clary nods, smiling. Isabelle pecks her cheek quickly, barely a brush across her cheek before departing quickly, her pace making it hard for anyone with intentions to keep up with her. 

“Looks like I have ten minutes to kill.” Clary says to Magnus and Catarina, both of which look confused at the interaction that had just gone down. “Are you gonna make a list?”

“What?” Magnus asks, snapping himself out of his own thoughts.

“Write a list of potential flower senders,” she says as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.

“What’s the point? The sender has clearly stopped sending now,” Magnus says, slightly disheartened and this doesn’t go unnoticed by Clary. “I’m over it.”

“Make a list anyway,” Clary tells him pointedly, “you still want to know who it was, right? So you can call them out on it if it turns out that this was all a joke.” 

“Maybe,” Magnus responds quietly.

Clary stands up, “I should probably go and find Izzy. Write that list, Magnus, you never know.”

And then Clary has disappeared, leaving Magnus and Catarina at the table.

-

Catarina ensures that Clary has disappeared out of earshot before she starts talking.

“Magnus,” Catarina says, instantly capturing Magnus’ attention, “Alec isn’t here today.”

He looks at her in confusion, “Yeah, I know that. I was there when Izzy told us why. It was like, this morning? Twenty minutes ago?”

“You don’t get it do you?” she asks.

Magnus shakes his head, implying that she needs to elaborate. “Alec isn’t attending his classes today, and nothing is waiting outside your room for you from mysterious flower sender. Understand?”

Magnus’ eyes widen. “You don’t think—”

“—It’s possible.” she cuts in with a casual shrug. 

Could it be possible that it was Alec sending the flowers?

“No way,” Magnus objects with a laugh, “I’d know if it was Alec — I can read him like a book, surely I would know if he were up to something.” 

But there was a tiny little flicker of hope that it could be.

Magnus and Catarina say their goodbyes before departing to go to their respective classes with a promise to meet up and get lunch off campus.

He’s grateful that he doesn’t have anything major to do today, instead he detours to the library and decides to study there instead, figuring he’d get more done that way. 

-

Concentrating on writing his essay proved to be more difficult that he had anticipated when he’d walked into the library over an hour ago. In the time he’d been there, Magnus had written half of his essay up.  
He’d even stopped momentarily and decided to take Clary’s advice and write a list of prospective flower senders; although nothing came of it and the minute he writes the title: potential flower senders at the top of his page, he instantly scraps the idea and scrunches the piece of paper into a ball, throwing it into a nearby trash can. 

He doesn’t notice that he’s late to meeting Catarina until his phone goes off and he rushes to reach it before the caller hangs up, feeling extremely guilty when he answers. 

He tells Catarina that he’ll be there as soon as possible. 

“You’re quiet,” Catarina tells him, poking at her food, “penny for your thoughts?”

“This essay is kicking my ass.” he tells her, although Catarina knows that this isn’t the whole truth. 

“That’s not the only reason, is it?” she asks in response. “Are you spooked about the possibility that the sender could be Alec? You obviously have a thing for him, shouldn’t you be happy about it?”

“I do not have a thing for Alec.” Magnus argues and he really tries to sound convincing, but even his own voice betrays him. “Okay, maybe a tiny little thing. Not even the size of a pea, little.” 

She isn’t convinced in the slightest, but it’s clear from his expressions that Magnus doesn’t want to talk any further on the situation and therefore she doesn’t pry.

“I need to go and grab a textbook for my next class,” Magnus says quickly standing up, “you coming?”

Catarina nods, standing up and brushing herself down of any excess food that may have fallen. “Let’s go.”

-

Magnus almost completely misses the rose that’s on the floor. The rose is a light shade of pink. 

“Does this mean love?” Catarina asks, clearly in shock herself.

“I don’t know what it means,” Magnus replies, “But one thing’s for certain - it can’t be Alec doing this.”

Magnus has to pretend to not be too disheartened. A part of him believed that Alec could have been doing this, in his own subtle way of indicating that he wanted a relationship with Magnus. Evidently not.

Catarina instantly gets her phone out and loads the table of flower meanings that Magnus had been using.

“Light pink symbolises gentleness and grace. It can also represent joy and sweetness.” Catarina reads aloud before glancing at the flower again, noticing something that Magnus clearly hasn’t.

Unlike the other flowers, there’s a note attached to the rose stem. Given, it’s only a tiny piece of paper and could have gone unnoticed but Catarina plucks the flower from Magnus’ hands and unfolds the note. 

“This reminded me of you, look up the meaning and you’ll understand why.”

“That is so sweet.” Catarina says in an almost dreamy voice, “I wish someone would do this for me.” 

Magnus laughs, “Just say the words and I’ll have a thousand roses on your doorstep by morning.” 

“Where’s the fun in knowing where they come from?” She almost whines.

“Well let me tell you from experience, not knowing isn’t as fun as what you think it is.” Magnus says, putting the rose in the vase with the other two he’d received. “I just want to know who would do this for me.”

“Check the handwriting.” Catarina suggests, and Magnus wonders why this wasn’t one of the first things he had done. 

“Look at people’s handwriting and see if it matches that on the paper. Why don’t you start with checking Alec’s.”

“Cat,” Magnus says, his tone almost pleading, “I thought we agreed that it wasn’t Alexander. He isn’t here today.”

Catarina isn’t about to give up that easily however — Magnus has known Catarina for years, he knows that when she puts her mind to something she will always scope out the truth. 

“All right, give me the paper. I’m going to do some snooping while you go to your class and take notes that you can share with me later.”

“How come you get to miss a class and do the fun snoopy stuff? Why can’t I?” Magnus protests, pouting and bringing out his best puppy dog eyes, “this is our only class together and you’re leaving me.”

Sadly, his eyes work on everyone but Cat - she knows not to let them persuade her into letting Magnus get his way. It didn’t stop him from attempting though.

“I’ll meet you here at the end of your class, okay?” Cat says, “have a fun time.” 

And then Catarina is gone.

-

All the way through his class, Magnus finds himself unable to concentrate. This was turning out to be an ongoing theme ever since the flower receiving started. His attention span has deteriorated in the past few days and it wasn’t a good thing. Magnus desperately tries to concentrate, but he is completely unable to. He knows his concentration won’t come back until he gets to the bottom of who is sending him flowers, and the reason for it.

The next day comes with another rose and this time it is accompanied by a significantly bigger piece of paper attached to the stem. Magnus isn’t surprised to find that when Catarina didn’t find the culprit yesterday, she is still on the case today.

The rose is a deep burgundy. 

Magnus is the first to check the colour code that he has downloaded from the Internet. 

“Not to be mistaken for the rose of love. A burgundy rose means unconscious beauty.” 

After reading the description, Magnus unfolds the accompanying piece of paper and on it, was the same scrawl that was on the paper yesterday.

“Many people see your beauty as what you wear, how you wear your hair and your bold make-up choices. But along with all of the above, I see your beauty as your big heart, your overwhelming kindness and confidence that I could only wish to have.”

Magnus can feel himself heating up and knows that Catarina is watching him intently, eagerly waiting to read the note herself in order to try and analyse the message. She takes the note out of his hands once he has finished reading aloud and reads it to herself. She can’t stop the smile that appears on her face when she reads the complimentary note.

-

He recounts his story to Alec at lunch days later when he is back to his usual, not-sick self, Isabelle and Clary having left earlier with no more classes to attend for the day. Alec had mentioned something about a party, but Magnus had zoned out when Alec started talking, too engrossed in watching the way his lips moved as he spoke. 

Catarina was sat opposite the two, watching them converse intensely. 

She notices that when Alec speaks, Magnus averts his gaze from Alec’s eyes, to his lips and back up again, then watches as his face lights up with a smile every time Alec finished speaking. It looks, to her, as if Magnus has a set routine of what to look at on Alec’s face, where to look and how long for before moving on.  
She notices the way Alec avoids looking into Magnus’ eyes, but he too, stares at Magnus’ lips as Magnus recounts story after story. He watches as Magnus’ words flow out of his mouth with a confidence that must have taken years to develop.

The last thing Catarina notices, is that Magnus and Alec are completely, obliviously besotted with one another — and she plans on doing something about it. 

-

The last Friday of the month rolls around with only one meaning, classes are less likely to go ahead and everyone uses the free time to get ready for one of the greatest parties they have had the pleasure of seeing.

Catarina and Magnus being no different, spent the whole day together, planning their outfits to coordinate with one another and their make up the same.

Magnus values Catarina’s opinions, he also trusts her to tell him when he doesn’t look at his best, and tonight is a night in which he needs to look his best. 

By eight o’clock in the evening, Magnus was almost drunk already, with Catarina standing close by in order to aid him in staying on his feet and not making a fool of himself in front of what must be over two hundred people.

Magnus spots Isabelle and Alec sat together, Isabelle is clearly enjoying the atmosphere, but is looking around for Clary, Magnus assumes. Alec looks like he wants to be anywhere else that isn’t here, but that comes as no surprise to Magnus. Alec isn’t a party person — especially in such a crowded venue.

Magnus knows that the other Lightwood is here too, Jace, who had been looking at his boyfriend not so innocently. He smirks to himself at the realisation of where they’ve disappeared to. 

Isabelle’s smile doesn’t falter when Clary appears, only gets wider and they both leave in order to get a drink, subsequently leaving Alec to his own devices. 

“Do you want to dance with me?” Magnus, who is very obviously drunk, asks before grabbing at Alec’s hand. 

Alec laughs, and it is the first time Magnus has seen him smile all night (not that he’s been watching him from afar or anything, but he has).

“You’re not gonna let me sit down until I do, are you?”

“Nope.” Magnus says, “Come on, pretty boy.”

Alec isn’t a dancer, period. He can’t dance but somehow, he can’t bring himself to care, Magnus was confident enough for the both of them and he showed it.

Magnus’ shirt had been unbuttoned through the night leaving only one of the buttons at the bottom of his shirt done up, allowing him to show off the variety of necklaces he had paired with his outfit and his blazer jacket has been discarded way before he had started dancing with Alec.

Magnus is a walking sin right now and it takes all the willpower Alec has not to rip open his shirt fully and kiss him hard right then and there. 

After two songs, Alec begins to feel light headed and tells Magnus that he needs to sit down. Magnus lets him.

Instead of finding a place to sit down, he immediately makes a beeline for the door, feeling the sudden need for fresh air. The thought of Magnus dancing so care-free and sexily consumes his mind as he stands, gasping for breath in the cold night air.

He is so screwed.

\- 

On Monday, an orange rose was left outside the door, no note attached. When Catarina had helped Magnus look up the meaning, it had said, desire. 

Thus, confused Magnus more.

-

Days passed and with the days, came no more roses. Catarina had spent an afternoon in Magnus’ room, listening to him mope about his secret lover and how the roses had stopped suddenly with no explanation or note.

“I have to go.” Catarina stated as she grabbed her phone from the nightstand, where it was charging.

“I wasn’t done complaining to you.” Magnus pouted.

“I love you Magnus,” Catarina replied, “but you seriously need to stop moping. Do some work or something and I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“I love you too.” 

And then Catarina disappears from view.

-

Catarina never thought that she would be standing outside the door belonging to Alec Lightwood, ready to grill him with questions and probably scare him away for life — but Magnus deserved answers, and she has every intent on getting them. 

It takes less than twenty seconds for Alec to open the door, his brow furrowing at the sight of Catarina, alone. He’s dressed in casual clothes, a lot more casual than what he would dress for a regular day. He’s wearing gray sweatpants and a black t-shirt that looks as though it has been worn way too many a time.

“Hi,” he greets politely.

The instant he speaks, the mood is strange, she has to admit to herself. Catarina has never really been alone with Alec in all the time she has known him, she’s always been accompanied by Magnus who would usually do a majority of the talking.

She takes in his appearance, wonders how on Earth he and Magnus would ever be suited. Alec is casual and wears black more than anyone she has ever known and Magnus, his speciality has always been garish clothes that looks like an explosion in a paint factory, although he manages to look good in anything, she would never admit it but Magnus’ ability to wear anything and look fantastic envied her..

“I know this is weird,” She says quickly, when it looks as though Alec is about to shut the door, “but can I come in?”

Alec pulls the door open further, silently inviting her in. She takes in her surroundings in awe. Catarina knows that Alec comes from a family of wealth, knows that he has parents with their own firm of lawyers, the best in the state. She isn’t surprised when she sees the interior of Alec’s room is one of the best. 

“What can I do for you?” Alec asks finally and closes the door behind them.

“It’s not what you can do for me,” Cat states, “it’s what you can do for Magnus.”

Alec stays silent and Catarina takes this as an indication to continue. “You need to tell him that it’s you sending these flowers. Or you know, it was you sending the flowers.”

Alec looks on at her with widened eyes, he obviously hasn’t been expecting this encounter, then again he hadn’t been sure what to expect when the blue-haired beauty stepped through his door minutes ago.

“I—”

“Don’t try to tell me it wasn’t you, Alec.” Catarina says, firm but not unkindly. “I know it was you. I looked at the handwriting on those notes you left and traced it back to your sister’s handwriting.”

“Wouldn’t that mean that it was my sister writing the notes?” Alec asks and instantly regrets it.

Catarina frowns, “It couldn’t be your sister, she has a girlfriend, and besides, you couldn’t exactly use your own writing because Magnus would definitely know it's you then.”

“Does Magnus know that it’s me?” Alec asks, his face scrunched.

Catarina shakes her head, “if he did I wouldn’t be here telling you to tell him.” 

Alec shrugs, “Fair point.” 

“So, will you tell him?” She asks, a hopeful expression on her face.

Alec has never been one to express his feelings aloud. It had taken him awhile to get to grips with his sexuality and outright admit to his parents that he would not be providing them with a daughter-in-law. Although his parents hadn’t been entirely enthused about the idea, they had grown to accept it. Which made it much easier for Isabelle and Jace to tell them that they had a girlfriend and a boyfriend respectively. Alec’s revelation kind of made him their hero.

“I don’t know, it’s not as easy as just going up to him and saying hey Magnus, I’ve been sending you these roses because I love you and want to be your boyfriend. That’s not me.”

He hasn’t noticed that in the middle of his sort-of rant, Catarina has stopped blank and she is now staring at him. 

“What?” He asks obliviously.

“Did you- did you just say you love Magnus?” She asks. 

Alec can’t tell whether her expression is a positive or negative one.

Nice one, Lightwood.

“I mean, I guess I did.”

“Do you mean it?” Catarina’s voice has gone quieter, more soft as if she were speaking to a sleeping baby, “because I can promise you now that if you told him that you’d make him the happiest man alive.”

“Of course I mean it,” Alec replies, shrugging his shoulders, “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t. But I don’t know the first thing about being in a relationship, how would I tell him?” 

A smile creeps its way up onto Catarina’s face. 

“I can help you there.”

-

Magnus loves Thursdays.

Thursday’s are his day off, allowing him to lay in bed all day and only get up and move for food. He and Catarina were supposed to spend yesterday together, but she had called and had to cancel, with a promise to make plans for the next day. 

He decides to get out of bed around ten-thirty, allowing two hours before he has to leave to meet Catarina at the start of lunch hour and he therefore decides to start getting ready.

He arrives at his and Catarina’s regular meeting point at twelve-forty-five, just as lunch hour has begun.

“Well, thank you for ditching last night,” He greets her, kissing her cheek lightly, “I managed to catch up on all the work I didn’t do in study hall.”

Catarina grins, “You’re welcome. Also, here.” 

In Catarina’s stretched out hand, is a folded piece of paper that looks alarmingly familiar to him.

“What’s this?” He asks and takes the paper, his ringed fingers playing with the item.

“Open it and you’ll see,” Catarina replies, a knowing grin on her face. 

He unfolds the paper hesitantly, still glancing now and then at Catarina, who still has the same grin on her face. It doesn’t appear to be moving anytime soon, either.

“Field. Tree. 1pm.” 

Magnus looks up at Catarina, knowing exactly where the instruction is telling him to go. 

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go!” Catarina says, pushing him slightly and trying to encourage his legs to move.

He doesn’t need to be told again and before he can even tell what his own body is doing, he is making his way to the tree that he and his friends have lunch at. There are barely any people on the field, which is strange considering the regular amount of people who spend their lunch times here. 

He continues walking towards the back of the field and as he advances closer he can see that under the same tree, there is a blanket and a basket, and Alec. He hasn’t noticed Magnus’ almost arrival yet. 

Magnus, not knowing what to do, pulls out the paper and checks once again that this was his definite destination. Alec could’ve easily been helping someone set up, Magnus wasn’t ruling anything out at this moment.  
Instead, when he looks up from the paper in his hands, stands Alexander Lightwood in a denim button-up shirt that only he could pull off, with a single red rose in his hands. A blush has already formed on his cheeks and seems to be permanently residing there. The smile on his face was small, a smile that was only reserved for Magnus. 

He steps ever closer to him, a smile making its way onto his own face, which he guesses is probably flushed as well at this rate.

“Red.” 

“Red. An unmistakable expression of love.” Alec responds to the simple word, it sounds rehearsed yet sincere and Magnus’ eyes widen when he fully understands the meaning behind Alec’s statement.

“You love me?” he finally asks in a quiet whisper. 

Alec can’t bring himself to say yes, he is still so nervous. 

What if Magnus rejects him? 

Instead, he nods his head, still unsure of his actions. 

Magnus edges closer to Alec with every passing second and finally, stands inches away from him.

“I love you, too.” He replies, unable to believe that he is finally voicing the feelings out loud.

“You do?”

Magnus laughs, instantly bringing a wider smile to Alec’s face. 

“Of course I do,” he responds.

Alec has always believed that actions speak louder than words ever could, which is why before he can second guess himself, he steps forward and takes Magnus’ face in his hands, quickly pressing his lips against his. Alec’s kisses are messy and unpracticed, but he puts everything he has into it, which is much more important. 

Their first kiss. 

Hopefully the first of many.

Magnus’ hands come up to rest on Alec’s waist and he presses himself impossibly closer to Alec. When they break apart, Alec is faced with Magnus looking up at him, a completely adoring expression on his face. One that probably mirrors his own face, he couldn’t tell. All that matters is that Alec loves him — and he loves him right back.

“I made food,” Alec says and steps aside, giving Magnus a clear view of the layout in front of him. .

“I’m not one to say no to food,” Magnus says before sitting down and grabbing Alec’s hand, encouraging him to sit too.

-

They eat and talk all the way through lunch, until the food is gone and Magnus has even managed to convince Alec to feed each other the strawberries, although Alec would blush if ever it were mentioned. They found themselves talking about anything and everything that came to mind. 

“How did you manage to put the rose outside my room that time you were sick?” Magnus asks, finishing off the last strawberry. 

Alec smiles, “I got Izzy to do it for me. She was in on it the whole time and she was almost devastated when I couldn’t get out of bed, so she offered to do it for me and make sure it got to you.”

“I was so worried it would be a joke or something,” he says in response.

“Ah yes, Catarina did mention that you thought it was Camille at first.” Alec says.

“When did she mention that?” Magnus asks, eyes widening.

“When she came to visit the other day,” Alec says as if it were the most normal thing, “she actually helped me with this whole thing.”

Magnus sighs happily, “remind me to send her something as a thank you.”

“I will.” Alec says.

The prospective thought of their days being spent together, filled domesticated bliss and finally, happiness that Magnus deserves so much and Alec likewise.

During the entire time, none of them could stop the smiles that were plastered on their faces, not that either of them wanted to.

“I have to get to class.” Alec mutters, pressed up against Magnus’ side with a sad smile. 

“Do you have to?” Magnus pouts his lip, looking down at Alec, who’s looking back up at him as if he has personally hung every star up in the sky. 

Alec laughs, “I mean, yes. I do if I want to actually graduate and have a good life to provide for y—.”  
“Alexander, were you going to say provide for me?” Magnus asks, smirking.

Instead of replying, he simply hides his face in Magnus’ shoulder, although he already knows that Magnus can see his blushing cheeks. 

“Besides,” Magnus starts, changing subjects,, “like I’ve stated many a time before. You’re super clever, what’s missing one class going to do?”

“If I could be persuaded to skip, then maybe I would.” Alec replied coyly, looking up from Magnus’ surprisingly comfortable shoulder, where was all this confidence coming from?

Magnus put down the cup he’s been drinking from for the past few minutes before leaning down and brushing his lips against Alec’s.

“Stay,” he whispers, his voice already hoarse from their kiss, “besides, I have a very warm and comfortable room we can be getting back to.” 

“Hm,” Alec barely breathes, He too, is wrecked from the kiss, and Magnus’ last proposition probably hasn’t helped the situation.

Magnus presses a kiss to his cheek, then lower to his jawline, then lower again until he reached his neck. 

“I’m convinced. What’s one class anyway?” Alec asks quickly, much to Magnus’ amusement.

Magnus chuckles at Alec’s apparent enthusiasm, leans down to kiss him again and it finally occurs to him that he can kiss Alec wherever and whenever he wanted to now.

Although neither of them had mentioned the talk they’d inevitably have to have, it was clear where the direction of their newfound relationship would be going in the future.

Magnus needs to thank Isabelle and Catarina, he thinks as he watches Alec pack away the rest of the picnic. 

Once Alec’s finished packing, he picks up the basket and places his other hand in Magnus’, his calloused hands a wide contrast between Magnus’ manicured, decorated fingers. 

Alec would never know what he missed in that one class, but one thing he did learn that day was that Magnus Bane loved him — and to him, this was the best thing he’s learned all year.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that wasn't too much of a cheese-fest for you all! 
> 
> Anyways, kudos and comments are much appreciated and if there are any prompts that you'd like to give me (please, I need to write more) or anything that you want to ask about the fic or about my writing in general, then you can follow my tumblr which is: [emkiewrites](https://emkiewrites.tumblr.com)
> 
> I haven't set up a Twitter account for my writing yet, but I'll be sure to in the future! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, it means the world.  
> — Emkie


End file.
